The formation of Rainbow in 1975 happened because of a rift between Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore and his band mates. Blackmore set out on his own and assembled Rainbow. The new band featured former members of Elf, whose music was produced by Purple bassist Roger Glover and Elf had landed a supporting slot as direct support to Deep Purple. Unless you’ve lived under a rock you know Elf’s singer was none other than the late great Ronnie James Dio.
In addition to Ronnie James Dio and Blackmore, Rainbow featured ‘powerhouse’ drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Jimmy Bain and keyboardist Tony Carey. The lineup featured on ’Live In Munich,’ is slightly different but as a fan you already know that. ‘Rainbow On Stage’ was recorded from this very tour. That recording has been heralded as one of ‘definitive’ live albums of the 1970s.
This performance was recorded live in Munich Germany on October 20th, 1977 and captured Rainbow at their peak. The lineup for this recording featured a couple changes. The new members were Bob Daisley on bass and Cunuck Dave Stone on keyboards. This concert was close to not happening. If you know your Blackmore history you’re aware that Blackmore was lodged in the regional jail while in Austria. The man in black had gotten into a bit of a scuffle with security who were abusing fans within Blackmore’s line of sight. As legend goes, things got tumultuous between Blackmore and security. Blackmore’s last-minute arrival only heightened the intensity of the performance. This notoriety just made this particular gig one of the most sought after bootleg recordings of Rainbow’s storied career. To have it released, remastered and in a package that includes not only the audio but video documentation of it, is absolutely glorious.
While the track listing might be similar to ‘On Stage,’ you could make an argument that ’Live In Munich’ is a ‘better’ live album. Rainbow sounds tighter and Blackmore appears to be having a ball. Which as you know the guy’s emotions could flip at the drop of a dime. Perhaps he was appreciating his freedom and the enthusiastic audience that night. Did I mention Blackmore’s fiery performance? This album features the obligatory “Kill The King,” “Catch The Rainbow,” “Long Live Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “Man On The Silver Mountain,” amongst other Rainbow classics and a stellar cover of Purple’s “Mistreated.” You can’t go wrong with ‘Live In Munich’ and the extras on the DVD are an added bonus to an already all-time classic live recording.
This album goes to11/10
DVD & CD Tracklisting: CD One: 1. Introduction 2. Kill The King 3. Mistreated 4. Sixteenth Century Greensleeves 5. Catch The Rainbow 6. Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll
CD Two: 1. Man On The Silver Mountain 2. Still I’m Sad 3. Do You Close Your Eyes
DVD Bonus Features Original promo videos for: 1) Long Live Rock ‘n’ Roll 2) Gates Of Babylon 3) L.A. Connection / Interviews / Rainbow Over Texas ’76 / Photo Gallery / Slide Show with Audio Commentary”
Rainbow is: Ritchie Blackmore – guitar Ronnie James Dio – lead vocals David Stone – keyboards Bob Daisley – bass, backing vocals Cozy Powell – drums, percussion
